Art of the Crime
by MissPopuri
Summary: When Tyler returns to Mystic Falls, he finds Caroline getting closer to Klaus, his hybrid creator. *written before 3x19 came out*


She thought she could breathe easy after their failed attempt to get all the original family slaughtered. His tempered advances had slowed to the point where she was sure he wasn't pursuing her any more. Her heart quickened knowing that she would soon be reunited with him—her one and _only_ love, Tyler.

The one vampire sized insult to her injuries was the blonde original who flirted with her ex-boyfriend. Who does she think she is turning my Senior year decade dance into a 1920's prohibition, Caroline grumbled to herself as paint smeared on her hands.

"You are holding the brush all wrong, love," the familiar accent sounded gentle and calm, "the canvas isn't supposed to be used in anger." Klaus whispered into Caroline's ear, his hand on hers.

Caroline sucked in her breath, hoping that Klaus hadn't noticed the gooseflesh sensation on her arms where he rested his hand. She let out the breath as she said, "Would you be so kind as to step back a few feet," she paused for a moment before adding, "besides, I'm sure Rembrandt and Da Vinci wouldn't care how I painted a setting for a 20's high school dance."

Rich laughter erupted from behind her, Klaus was amused by this, and it irritated her that he was still there. If only he could have taken the hint fully and left completely, she thought. He moved around to the other side of the table to watch her paint. She could feel his eyes on her, or was he going to critique her painting again? It was best to ignore him to see if he went away.

He was still there when his laughter subsided. His voice spoke again, "Well, I may have been only a humble student in the Renaissance, but my teacher taught me that painting was the extension of passion and anger through the composition not the aggressive use of brush strokes," he stopped for a second, "from one artist to another, wouldn't you agree, Tyler?"

Not able to ignore him anymore, Caroline looked up at Klaus. His eyes were focused on someone behind her, the grin on his face was wide. She narrowed her eyes at him until she heard the voice speak from behind her, "What is this all about?"

She turned around to see Tyler standing behind her. Tyler's eyebrow raised at Klaus, narrowed eyes staring at the original with confusion and something else. Caroline dropped her paintbrush on the table and went to wrap her arms around him—squeezing him to her like she had wanted to the last two weeks while he was gone.

For a brief moment, she almost forgot that Klaus was still there, watching her hug the boyfriend who would do anything for her. He broke the silence again, "Well, it's good to see you, too, Tyler. The sire bond is broken, I take it."

"Don't tempt me, Klaus," Tyler said as he pushed Caroline aside to stand toe-to-toe with the other hybrid. Klaus merely grinned as his creation stood before him. Tyler narrowed his eyes at him, "I saw what you did from the entrance to the gymnasium."

Klaus' palms rose in surrender, his smile genuine and grinning, he replied, "I'm sure you did see something."

A growl from the back of Tyler's throat rumbled as he inched closer to Klaus, his hands ready to grab the man by the shirt collars and throw him across the gym. Another set of arms came between the two hybrids as Tyler was pulled away, Matt held him back as Rebekah pulled Klaus out of the way.

Matt shouted at Tyler, "What is the matter with you, man? Klaus wasn't hurting Caroline."

With one sweep of the gym, Tyler looked around to see that Caroline, Rebekah, and Klaus were all absent now. He turned back to Matt and shook his head, "It isn't that he was hurting her."

Confused, Matt quizzically stared at his friend, "What is it then?"

Tyler stared back at Matt with that look of a deer caught in the headlights; his mouth only formed these words, "He offends me." With that he turned around and exited the gym where he had entered, Matt was still left to finish the rest of the decorations by himself.

After a minute or two went by, Caroline came back into the gym with another can of paint. She noticed Matt was working on decorations alone. She asked, "Where did everybody go?" She was more than surprised to see that even Rebekah was gone, too.

Looking up from his streamer, Matt answered, "Well, after your heart-sick hybrid was pulled away by his overly protective little sister, your boy toy decided he needed to cool off, too."

Caroline laughed at this assessment, "I'm not in a triangle with those two." Even though she couldn't help but grin at the prospect, it wasn't like Elena with Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Klaus was ten times worse than Damon. She shook her head of the idea and went back to work.

Before he went to another streamer, Matt added, "That may be true, but the heart does work in mysterious ways."

Without acknowledging him directly, Caroline rolled her eyes at the comment. If that was how love worked, it would kill her.


End file.
